LVZ Inc. Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

LVZ Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 80.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,119 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 7,622 shares during the quarter. LVZ Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $8,892,000 after acquiring an additional 48,294 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $15,303,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,376,000. Burney Co. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Tigress Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.83. The stock had a trading volume of 18,034,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,724,547. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock's 50 day moving average is $40.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.77. The stock has a market cap of $180.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.33%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).